Going to the movies? Prepare to be watched while you watch

http://www.myce.com/news/going-to-the-movies-prepare-to-be-watched-while-you-watch-36138/

Going to the movies? Prepare to be watched while you watch
03 Nov 10 08:00 by wconeybeer in category MoviesTo news archive
	
Gaining entry to some movie theaters lately gives patrons an  
experience that is on par with going through a TSA security checkpoint  
at the airport. Then once you’ve gained access, there are cameras  
strategically positioned that record your every move. Unfortunately,  
the extent to which these companies monitor movie-goers is only going  
to get worse.
In an effort to further combat piracy, some cinemas have incorporated  
the use of an infrared scanning system that detects recording devices  
in the audience and if detected, sounds an alarm to alert management.  
Now the company that offers those services, Aralia Systems, is working  
to enhance the system by incorporating technology which will scan and  
read the audiences’ physical expressions and emotions.

Aralia Systems is teaming up with Machine Vision Lab of the University  
of the West of England to develop the technology to turn their anti- 
piracy devices into a dual-purpose system that will gather data about  
how the crowd reacts to what they’re seeing at any particular moment.

“Within the cinema industry this tool will feed powerful marketing  
data that will inform film directors, cinema advertisers and cinemas  
with useful data about what audiences enjoy and what adverts capture  
the most attention. By measuring emotion and movement film companies  
and cinema advertising agencies can learn so much from their audiences  
that will help to inform creativity and strategy,” Dr. Abdul Farooq  
from Machine Vision Lab told TorrentFreak.

Personally, I’m growing tired of everything that I do being monitored  
for the benefit of some company’s marketing research. With the  
increasing digitization of media along with the use of social  
networking, it’s becoming more difficult to escape the intense data  
mining that seems to be everywhere you turn. Now, rather than using  
sales numbers, the movie industry wants to scan our physical reactions  
too? The idea seems overly invasive to me, and I wonder just how much  
the data would allow the industry to improve the experience, if at all.

What do you think? Is monitoring audience reactions going too far?
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